Identity crises

I have been born into one world, with my heart firmly attached to another. Born into a world of comfort, where outward appearance is of great significance. One shaped in a ladder where you either move up or down. A world of strong characters, individual success and individual struggle. Man-made esthetic beauty claims high value – it determines ranking.

My heart is fondly grounded into a circular world. A world of community, where we raise each other’s children and we all go hungry together. Outward appearance makes way for heart value.  Time is a commodity to be used for establishing relationship. Esthetic beauty is of less concern as survival takes higher priority. Though the natural beauty of harsh environments offers a mostly overlooked comfort.

It is a hard act to balance the bridge between these two worlds, which I am to be. In a search for identity I look to the creator of both me and these two worlds. The One who governs them all. While looking for two footholds to place my feet, I discover that the bridge I am to be has no foothold in either of these worlds. It is to be firmly established on another rock. I am not part of either of these worlds, but a citizen of a third. I am rooted in a Kingdom of love, wholly formed and kept – able to sacrifice and suffer in either of those two worlds. I am in fact a recruiting immigration officer, offering Kingdom citizenship to the people of both these worlds. Nothing I encounter on my mission can influence my identity or my position in this Kingdom. Yet how I conduct my mission has great implications for the people I meet.

Rich or poor, alone or in community, is of no real consequence to me; for in this kingdom I am a prince and an heir to all. I am not a bridge connecting two earthly worlds, but a bridge connecting both worlds to the path of true life leading to the everlasting Kingdom.